Self-grooming Workshop with CLINIQUE

You are all invited!!! Please contact me at 017-2728644 or the names on the poster for registration. See you there!!!

National River Clean-up 10th July 2011

Do you know that our picnic-rivers are under threat? If you have enjoyed picnics by the river with family and friends, you may want to act NOW and conserve our watery wonders from dirty and stinky rubbish...in fact, the extent of pollution and deterioration of nature is beyond imagination.

Today, much of our natural beauty have perished at the hands of mankind. As layman,we regret having to witness tremendously horrifying destruction of Mother Nature, and continuous slaughter of our eco-system. Deliberating on these selfish actions is exasperating, and may go beyond our jurisdictions. So, let's identify opportunities to conserve nature at our own backyard, in our neighbourhood or some place where we can perform our responsibility as a concerned citizen.

At UNITEN, undergraduates are involved in diversed community service, and the most recent is National River Clean-up project in collaboration with KAGUM. A total of 87 staff and undergraduates joined the nation's call for conservation of our picnic-rivers. 4 KAGUM members provided the team with the necessary groundrules for river clean-up and joined us in clearing rubbish at the picnic site. Some rubbish are simply ridiculous; for example, who would need a cellphone charger by the river? Indeed we found 'just that' during our national river clean-up project on 10th July 2011.

Finally, we jumped into the river and connected with nature in ultimate bliss!! We pray may our picnic rivers remain this beautiful forever...Our volunteers collected a total of 618 kilos of rubbish from the site. In fact, several other voluntary groups have collected even heavier garbage... and this makes us wonder about the mentality of these litterbugs and selfish picnickers.

It's time to act and volunteer for river clean-up. For those who have participated in such activities, CONGRATULATIONS! The rivers are crying for our help! So, please share your experience with our readers in this blogosphere about your experience as a volunteer for any national river clean-up activtiy, and let's motivate others too.

You Are ALL Invited!

In the spirit of 'speaking up', MURNI High Committee will organize the 1st National Students' Conference on Women. It aims to bring together presenters and participants with and without working experience to deliberate on one theme: Working Women.

Most interestingly, we shall have two keynote speakers. Mr Hafiz, currently an assistant manager with MAERSK, will share his experience working with women and provide the audience with tips on handling everyday challenge at the workplace. Next, Dr Irmi who is a specialist on family health will raise our consciousness on health matters which we tend to neglect in pursuit of career success.

The conference will also present a nice balance of UNITEN ex-students and the undergraduates. The final list of speakers and their topics will be announced shortly. Until then, perhaps you may want to call Siti Sarah, the program director, at 0196147960. Grab a form and register a.s.a.p. You can also leave me your fax no. at 019-2728644 and i shall send you d registration form.

Come and JOIN US in this intellectual discourse. With our line of speakers, we promise an enlightening and rejuvenating conference. Register and claim your rewards! certificates! SCORUN merits! meals! lucky draws! Also, grab this opportunity to mingle with a lively crowd as you maintain the academic climate on campus.

Best of all,the conference is open to ALL- UNITEN students (RM 10) and the rest of the world (RM20). Please accept our invitation, and I hope to really see all of you at the conference. Show your kind support for women, and make things happen.

Zuraidah Ali
Advisor, 1st National Students' Conference on Women
Resident Counselor, MURNI

Big Cleaning Day

The country has proudly practised a system and discipline known as Five S's or 5S - Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain. It could have started with the manufacturing and industrial plants first because they benefit most from tiptop organization and systematic planning and implementation.

This quality program known as '5S' has been successfully adapted for use in institutions of higher learning, including my university - the Universiti Tenaga Nasional. Recently, the '5S'auditors came down and visited the campus to evaluate our performance in keeping up with the challenge. Hmmm, I shall try to update this article when the results is released...

So we went '5S' crazy for a long while. The university staff attended pre-'5S' workshops and campaigns, and then, there were filing systems to follow, arrangement and labelling to be done, and what I dreaded most was discarding of items - which may sound impossible for individuals like me. Argggh! the office is my treasure chest!!! complete with precious belongings and items of sentimental value:)

Our first nightmare came around in sorting our stacks of items. But it was not as tough as it may sound. As much as '5S' may be stringent in ensuring order, it also brings about a very impressive 'speck n clean' culture. Besides, it nurtures a very good habit of keeping our workplace organized and in perfect order. Everything has its place, and should be returned to its assigned location after use. This way, we can find completely any reference item in a jiffy, and eliminate lame excuses like - lost it! the elves must have taken it! somebody must have borrowed it. Ring a bell? We were positive in embracing this new 'big clean concept' and we all did it wonderfully.

I guess the best part for '5S' is the last step which is to sustain the good practice and habits. We certainly don't have to wait for another program, campaign or evaluation visit to happen to remind us about our responsibility to keep our place clean and systematic. We don't need to declare another Friday as our 'big cleaning day'.

For its superior qualities, let's take '5S' program and concept as our culture - a complete package of guidance, value, and quality control. Like the industries, the universities are welcoming the '5S' program. The nation should read up more about it, and join the pursuit of total cleaning initiative. Imagine - reduced rubbish, zero litterbugs, cleaner roads, well-maintained road signs, etc.

The '5s' program does not end at the workplace - main office, lecture halls, and individual work space. It also reminds us of our dutiful chores at home, systematic student life, and intrapersonal and interpersonal values like time management, discipline, effective procedures, etc.

Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain.